Declan James Affley (8 September 1939 – 27 June 1985) was an Australian folk singer and musician.
Biography
Affley was born in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, to working-class
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
parents of
Irish descent. As a child, he learned to play the clarinet and picked up some Irish songs from his father.
[Burke, Colleen Z]
Declan Affley – A rake & rambling man
at ''JAM'', Folk Federation of NSW. (Sourced to an unspecified edition of
Trad and Now
''.
At age 16, he joined the British
Merchant Navy and travelled to
Japan and
Australia, where he jumped ship in 1959 to find work on coastal ships based in
Sydney. At a harbourside pub, the Royal George, he discovered the
Sydney Push
The Sydney Push was an intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual ...
and joined its folksinging scene, which had links with other establishments in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
.
Affley became a regular performer at the Troubadour Coffee Lounge in Sydney and later a
Frank Traynor's Folk Club, Melbourne leading to appearances at many other venues and folk festivals. He played small parts in several films including
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), '' Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witnes ...
's ''
The Last Wave
''The Last Wave'' (also released, in the US, as ''Black Rain'') is a 1977 Australian mystery drama film directed by Peter Weir.''Variety'' film review; 16 November 1977, p. 21. It is about a white solicitor in Sydney whose seemingly normal life ...
'', and
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein (born 1 March 1959) is an Australian filmmaker. He has written, produced and directed: feature films, including '' Strikebound'' (1984), ''Dogs in Space'' (1986) and ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'' (2001); music videos ...
's ''
Strikebound
''Strikebound'' is a 1984 Australian film directed by Richard Lowenstein and based on the Wendy Lowenstein novel ''Dead Men Don't Dig Coal''. The film got several AFI Award nominations and won in the Best Achievement in Production Design categor ...
'', of which he was musical director. His group the Wild Colonial Boys appeared in the
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film '' Tom Jones''.
Earl ...
film ''
Ned Kelly
Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
'' in 1970.
[
He married Colleen Zeita Burke in Melbourne on 11 December 1967. A son and a daughter were born from the marriage.][Dengate J]
Affley, Declan James (1939–1985)
at Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2007
Affley was well known as a singer of traditional songs such as "Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...
" as well as performing the work of contemporary songwriters including John Dengate, Don Henderson
Donald Francis Henderson (10 November 1931 – 22 June 1997)Ancestry/Find My Past (his birth was registered in the December 1931 quarter) was an English actor. He was known for playing both "tough guy" roles and authority figures, and is remem ...
and Harry Robertson. He died suddenly at the age of 45 from a dissecting aneurysm of the aorta.[
]
Memorial award
Affley is remembered by the Declan Affley memorial award for excellence in a young performer, awarded annually at the National Folk Festival in Canberra.[
]
Discography
* Declan Affley and Mike Ball: ''The Rake And Rambling Man''. Score POL 040, 1967.
* Declan Affley: ''The Day the Pub Burned Down''. M7 Records MLF-056, Sydney, 1970.
* ''Declan Affley'' – LP and cassette, TAR 020, 1987 (posthumous release)
* ''Declan Affley : vintage live recordings''. CD, Australian Folk Archive AFA 001, 2003.
Sound recording
Declan Affley, The Larrikins, Seamus Gill, Daniel O Connell, Castleroe, Jimmy MacBride, R Brooks, Ken Greenhalgh, Kevin Butcher and others recorded for ABC Radio National in the Declan Affley folklore collection
1986 ABC Radio tape at Trove
Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Affley, Declan
1939 births
1985 deaths
Australian folk singers
20th-century Australian male singers